Nostalgia – Martina Thorogood, Miss Venezuela 1999

Considered to be the best Miss Venezuela that Osmel Sousa has ever produced, Martina Thorogood Hemseem is a beauty in a league of her own.
Martina was a student of International Relations and Latin American Studies at the Lake Forrest Collage in Illinois. She was bi-lingual being able to speak fluent English and Spanish. The 5’9 1/2″ brown eyed brunette became Miss Venezuela 1999.There are a lot of other beauty queens that were compared to this beauty who represented Miranda in MV but none IMHO comes close to her… not even fellow Venezuelan and Miss World titlist, Jacqueline Aguilera Marcano or Carolina Izsak… Jacqueline’s beauty is awe-inspiring yet intimidating and while Carolina’s beauty seems to be cold and distant, Martina’s brand of beauty is both strong and magnetic.If one was to describe Martina, the most common words people would describe her would be magnetic, enigmatic, perfection… To call her Osmel’s best creation would be an understatement. In fact it is rumored that Osmel doctored her age from 27 to 24, a debate that until now is still on the minds of beauty pageant aficionados. This might have a grain of truth as Osmel has made modifications in age and even nationality for some of his queens previously. Whether this rumor has an iota of truth or not, it just added to Martina’s enigmaticappeal and charisma. Due to the consecutive non-placements in Ms World in 1997 and 1998, Osmel decided to have Martina represent Venezuela in both international pageants: Miss World and Miss Universe. It was evident then that Julia and Eric will not put a Venezuelan beauty queen in the semi-finals until Osmel sends his best girl to the said pageant. This was a gamble on his part that would later bring dire consequences to the beauty Czar. Martina ended up as 1st princess to Yukta Mookhey.Pageant fans over the world were disheartened when MUO disallowed her to compete the following year. Her entry was denied by the Miss Universe Organization because she was the 1st Princess in Miss World and there was a chance that she could assume the title should the winner resign or lose her crown. I remember being shell-shocked when I heard the news. Miss Universe 2000 would have been her vindication from the robbery that was Miss World 1999.
After her reign, Martina opted to have a quiet family life and was blessed with it…

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About the Blogger

Jesson Capuchino is fashion retail professional of over 10 years, worked as a marketing adviser to one of the biggest fashion companies in Southeast Asia, and a pageant connoisseur since 1994. He is the resident blogger of the pageant portal Sash Factor and a social-media content creator of its Facebook page. A graduate of the BS Clothing Technology program of the University of the Philippines, he has lived outside of the Philippines and traveled to New York, London, Seoul, Singapore and Dubai for assignments with various international brands. His passion in writing, illustration and pageantry converge in this blog.